Such a method is used for determining the mutual position differences between leads of an electronic component, in particular a semi-conductor element. There are several reasons for which the leads of an electronic component are not always aligned accurately. However, for the assembling of a chip on a card it is important that the leads are positioned well with respect to the soldering areas. A deviation between a lead and a soldering area can end in that there is no mechanical contact between soldering area and lead and therefore that no electronic contact will be realised so that the whole card can become useless. However, since the leads are frequently bent with respect to the desired distance, it is necessary to verify to which extend this bending can lead to an inoperational card. The known method allows to check, by a position determination whether the leads are arranged correctly. To this end, a two-dimensional image is generated from the underside of the electronic component for example by means of a television camera. The image is realized by the fact that the electronic component is illuminated by a coherent light beam which is arranged at a certain angle with respect to the camera. The position in the image of the light source reflected on the lead comprises the necessary information to deduce herefrom the position of the lead.
A drawback of the known method and of the device used therein is the necessity to use a coherent light beam for giving the beam reflected on the lead a sufficient intensity in order to form a clear image. The latter requires the use of a laser as a light source, which involves on the other hand that the device has to be covered adequately, which renders in its turn the used device and method expensive.